by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: April 15, 2009   Last Updated: July 26, 2011

The word family holds many different meanings. There are those that are blood relations which we call family and there are friends which we consider as family. There is also the family that you marry into. There are a variety of meanings to the word which cannot be defined in a few words. Here are some of the definitions for family:

Blood Relations

Blood relations are the first definition of family. You may not have chosen them, but it is what you have. These are the first people that you know simply because you were born to them. You learn to love these people because you have to rely on them. Without them, you have nothing else.

You rely on this type of family for many things. They feed you and put a roof over your head. There are those in your bloodline that you would probably choose not to know under other circumstances. Dysfunctional families can include things such as alcoholism or drug abuse. None of these things matter because that is who you were given without a choice.

Most people love their families no matter what the circumstances. Our blood family are those that have protected us from harm, kept us safe and warm and made sure we had our bellies full of food. How could you not love someone who did that for you?

Circumstances vary but there is usually at least one family member that you try to avoid as much as possible. We also would do anything to protect them if the need be. You may say what you like about your family because it is yours. No one else can enter that domain. Blood relations will almost always win out over that of others. These are family ties that generally cannot be broken, although many will try. This is what God gave you to work with.

Friends

As we grow older we adopt outsiders as family. Those outsiders (non-blood relations) are called friends. Friends are those that we choose to spend our time with. Good friends become more like family. These are the people that you trust much more than you trust your blood relations. Friends probably know much more about you than your blood relatives do. That is because they are your choice. If you had been given a choice of who you would like to be related to, it would be those that are your friends.

These are the people that you call in the middle of the night because you had something you "just have to tell" them. You choose to spend time with them because they are fun. These are also the people that will stand true to you to the end. It won't matter if you are right or wrong, these people

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